Nicolas henry grosselin



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 (No Model.)

N. H. GROSSELIN, MEANS FOR NAPPING FABRICS.

No. 577,602. Patented Feb. 23, 1897.

7 (No Model.) 2 Sh eets-Sheet 2,

N. H. GROSSELIN. MEANS FOR NAPPING FABRICS.

No. 577,602. Patented Feb. 23, 1897.

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mtozwu o UNITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

NICOLAS HENRYGROSSELIN, OF SEDAN, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES HEAP, OF ROCHDALE, ENGLAND.

MEANS FOR NAPPING.FABRICS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,602, dated February 23, 1897. Application filed July 23,1895. Serial No. 556,943. (No model.) Patented in France September 20, 1895,1Io. 247,681.

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that LNIcoLAs HENRY GROSSE- LIN, a citizen ofthe French Republic, resid ing at Sedan, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Napping Fabrics, (for which I have obtained Letters Patent of France, dated September 20, 1895, No. 247,681,) of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in certain means for napping fabrics, as fully set forth hereinafter, whereby a closerandbetter nap is produced.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of sufficient of a napping-mm chine to illustrate the napping means embodying my invention. Figs. 2 to 9 are views illustrating different constructions of napping-rolls embodying my improvement.

- My invention has forits object different improvements for the purpose of producing in napping-machines having working rollers a shorter napping which is more felty, and at the same time can be produced more rapidly. This result is obtained by applying a new principle to the operating parts of the working rolls, that is by an intermittent napping of instantaneously rapidly increasing and diminishing variation of energy so as to give to the cardsa greater power of penetration into the fabric, and at the same time a greater rapidity of recoil or disengagement. This principle may be applied in different ways. I will only describe a certain number as an example.

The first means consists in providing the napping-drums with non-cylindrical working rollers-that is, rollers in angular form in cross-section with flat or slightly convex faces, as shown-so that the points of the cards on each roll may be in planes whose different generating points are unequally removed from the axis of the workin g roller. It therefore results that the circumferential backward speed of the points of the teeth of the cards will differ from one moment to another, or, in other words, from one point to another, which will result in an action or energy which will differ from one point to another, and which I designate by the name of intermittent energy. This difference of action may be increased or diminished according to the form adopted for the working roll. It is evident that a working roller having a triangular, square, or pentagonal section will present Working differences which are more accentuated than a working roller having a hexagonal, octogonal, or decagonal section. The greater the number of faces, and the more nearly this working roller approaches the cylindrical form, the less difference will there be between theenergy of action between the clifferent points of these working rollers.

The prismatic form with plane or curved faces or plane and curved combined, as is represented in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, may, if necessary, be replaced by the cylindrical form having a section in the form of an ellipse or of any other curve for the same purpose, as in Fig. 7. I give preference to the polygonal form having straight or slightly convex sides. It is such rolls that constitute the operating mechanism of my machine, the rolls napping with the napthat is to say, in which the points of the cards are directed in the direction of rotation of the drumand in the opposite direction to the rotation of the working rolls.

The working rolls are driven, either by belts or gears, at a constant and predetermined speed of rotation, although this speed is variable at will by customary and known means, and it will be easily understood that the action of the cards will be more energetic in the middle of the scraping-planes, that is to say, those parts nearest the axes of the rolls. Each plane of the working roller will then bite into the fabric with an energy which will increase from the projecting parts of the plane to the center. The teeth of the cards will therefore bite progressively into the cloth of the fabric, and as this penetration will be made Without shocks and on a limited part of the fabric there will be no risk of fraying and disarranging the weft.

Continuing to analyze the operation of the working rolls, it will be seen that the napping plane detaches itself more rapidly from the fabric than if the working roller was cylindrical. Indeed, at the precise moment when the cards placed at the center of this plane are withdrawn from the fabric into which they have penetrated the part of the cards which is nearest the apex of the angle of intersection of the two neighboring planes will have a circumferential backward movement which is more rapid, the result being that the whole of the surface of the scraping-plane will be disengaged with a greater rapidity than in a cylindrical roll from the cloth of the fabric into which it had penetrated. This movement of disengagement of the cards will thus have a less oblique direction with relation to the surface of the fabric. It will be almost perpendicularto the surface of this fabric and consequently will not exercise any action on the weft of such a nature as to fray the threads of the chain.

The rsum of the complete movement of a scraping-plane may therefore be defined thus: progressive and rapid penetration of the napping-plane into the fabric with an energy of action greater at the middle of the planes than at the angles of intersection, consequently rapid and progressive disengagement from the same scraping-plane. Thanks to this arrangement, the fabric is napped deeper and more energetically, without running any risk of fraying, and the nap is shorter and thicker, which is the result generally sought. Besides the parts of the fabric, when there are defects of weaving 0r folds, will run less risk of being cut or injured by the napping.

The multiplicity of the successive actions of the working rolls permits the compensation of irregularities, which willbe produced if the napping is done at one operation and by a single contact of the scraping-planes on the fabric, as each drum is provided with a large number of working rollers, that is to say, from fourteen to twenty-four, and even more, and as the drum describes about fifteen revolutions during the displacement of a meter of the fabric, the result being that the irregularity of work produced by the scraping-plane is corrected and compensated by the action of the successive working rollers in such a way that the final result is one of absolute regularity.

I have just described the operation of the prismatic working rollers working with the nap. The same working rollers may equally operate against the nap, that is to say, with the cards with teeth directed in the direction of the rotation of the Working rollers, that is, in the direction opposite to the rotation of the drum. In this case the different moments of action are symmetrical with those described above, but are produced in the opposite direction. The maximum of action of the cards will therefore take place at the apex of the angle of the two scraping-planes. The minimum of action will take place at the center of these planes. The disengagement will be in such a case as the other with a greater rapidity and in a direction almost perpendicular to the surface of the fabric to be napped.

The flat faces of the working rollers instead of being plane may be helicoidal, as shown in Fig. 7. This modification has for its result to only submit a part of the width of the fabric at a time to the maximum action of the napping-plane. In this case half the working rollers should have their faces helicoidal with the spiral to the right and the other half having its spiral to the left. The same principle may be applied by retaining the cylindrical form of the cores of the working rollers and covering them with bands of cards in which the height of the teeth is itself different from one point to another, as in Fig. 9. It is easily understood that the Working roller may be provided with cards whose height may progressively increase or diminish along a determined length calculated according to the diameter of the working roller itself, so that once raised the juxtaposed spirals will form a series of straight planes on these helices. This system is less precise than the preceding, but has an easier application.

. It is understood that all the working rollers are driven at a speed variable at will by'means of cones, belts, gears, friction-pulleys, &c. All these means are known in the industry and described at length in prior patents, and I therefore consider it unnecessary to repeat them here.

Having thus described the object of my invention and several examples of means for carrying it out, I claim- 1. The combination ina napping-machine, of a rotating drum, a series of rolls carried by said drum each provided at different points with teeth which in cross-section of the roll terminate at different distances from its center, and means for driving the rolls whereby different parts of the napping-surface of each roll travel at different speeds during each revolution of the roll, substantially as described.

2. The combination in a napping-machine, of a rotating drum and a series of non-cylindrical rolls, each of the same cross-sectional dimensions throughout its length substantially as described.

3. The combination in a napping-machine, of a rotating drum, a series of non-cylindrical rolls each of uniform diameter systematically arranged, and means for turning the rolls to vary the speed of each during its rotation, substantially as described.

4:. A non-cylindrical roll for napping-machines provided with teeth, the ends of which throughout the length of the roll coincide with different flat planes at different parts of the periphery, substantially as described.

5. A roll for napping-machines provided with cards, the teeth of which terminate upon the lines of a prism, substantially as described.

6. A roll for napping-machines provided at diiferent points With teeth which in cross-section of the roll terminate at different distances from its center, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of IO two subscribing Witnesses.

NICOLAS HENRY GROSSELIN.

WVitnesses F. MENNARS, EDWARD P. MAOLEAN. 

